HOUSTON, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Key Energy Services, Inc. (NYSE: KEG) announced today its rig and trucking hours for the month of December 2009 and announced the date of its fourth quarter earnings conference call. The hourly activity levels for the month and comparable periods are as follows:

For the month ended

December 31, 2009

November 30, 2009

December 31, 2008

Working Days

20

19

21

Rig Hours

148,350

138,430

195,022

Trucking Hours

141,371

138,598

195,766

The company calculates working days as total weekdays for the month less any company holidays

that occur that month. For the month of January 2010, there are 20 working days.

Chairman, President, and CEO Dick Alario commented, "Signs of improvement we discussed early in the fourth quarter continued throughout December. Compared to November, our total monthly rig hours increased 7%, with hours per day increasing 2%. U.S. hours increased 7% on an absolute basis and 1.5% per work day over November. Our pricing and job mix was relatively stable from November to December, and the activity increase occurred throughout our customer base. We typically experience weather disruptions in the U.S. market this time of year, and we estimate weather negatively impacted our rig business by about half a day during December. International rig hours increased 8% on an absolute basis and 2.5% on a per work day basis with our Russian operations contributing 5,055 hours to December's total. We are encouraged by the current pace of activity and by the anticipated growth in spending being discussed by our customers for 2010."

The Company will hold a conference call to discuss its fourth quarter 2009 financial results on February 18, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. CST. To access the call in the U.S. and Canada please dial the following number: (877) 809-3720 and ask for the "Key Energy Conference Call". International callers should dial (660) 422-4879. The conference call will also be available live via the internet. To access the webcast, go to www.keyenergy.com and select "Investor Relations". A replay of the conference call will be available on February 18, 2010, beginning at 2:00 p.m. CST and will be available for one week. To access the replay, please call (800) 642-1687. The access code for the replay is 50936218.

About Key Energy Services

Key Energy Services is the largest provider of onshore well service rigs in the United States and one of the leading onshore, rig-based well servicing contractors in the world. Key provides a complete range of well services, including rig-based well maintenance, workover, well completion and recompletion services, fluid management services, pressure pumping services, fishing and rental services, electric wireline services and ancillary oilfield services. Key has operations in all major onshore oil and gas producing regions of the continental United States and internationally in Argentina, Mexico and Russia. Additionally, Key has a technology development group based in Canada and ownership interests in a drilling and production services company in Canada.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These "forward-looking statements" are based on Key's current expectations, estimates and projections about Key, its industry, its management's beliefs and certain assumptions made by management. No assurance can be given that such expectations, estimates or projections will prove to have been correct. Whenever possible, these "forward-looking statements" are identified by words such as "expects," "believes," "anticipates" and similar phrases.

A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations, estimates and projections expressed in this press release, including, but not limited to: risks affecting activity levels for Key's services, including the decline and instability of commodity prices, future decreases or other changes in the capital budgets of customers, the impact of activity levels not recovering, or even decreasing in the future, among Key's larger customers, and changes in the demand for the mix of services that Key provides; risks associated with the prolonged economic downturn and credit market instability; risks affecting Key's foreign operations and investments, including its expanded investment and operations in Russia; and risks affecting Key's ability to maintain or improve operations, including its ability to maintain prices for services under increasing pricing pressures, the impact of rig capacity in the market and weather risk.

Given these uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Other important risk factors that may affect Key's business, results of operations and financial position are discussed in its most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K and in other Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Unless otherwise required by law, Key also disclaims any obligation to update its view of any such risks or uncertainties or to announce publicly the result of any revisions to the forward-looking statements made here. However, readers should review carefully reports and documents that Key files periodically with the Securities and Exchange Commission.